No. 13 Lady Vols roll Rutgers, 66-47

Knoxville, TN - December 30, 2012: guard Meighan Simmons #10 of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers during the game between Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN. Photo By Donald Page/Tennessee Athletics

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (release) -- Tennessee beat Rutgers for the ninth time in a row as the Lady Vols used tenacious defense on the way to a 66-47 victory on Sunday afternoon. The victory was the 1,200th in the illustrious history of Lady Vol basketball, the most of any women's basketball program in the nation. UT is now 1,200-268 (.817) all-time in its 68th season.

The Lady Vols (9-3) jumped ahead early and led wire-to-wire with their second convincing win in a row. Tennessee led by double-figures for the final 33 minutes

Tennessee limited the Scarlet Knights (8-4) to just 34.6 percent from the floor in the game including 22.2 percent in the first half.Sophomore Isabelle Harrison tied her career-high with 18 points. She grabbed 11 rebounds for her fourth career double-double.

Harrison also had a career-high six steals, the most by a Lady Vol since Alicia Manning had six vs. Old Dominion last season.Freshman Bashaara Graves hauled down a career-high 14 rebounds to go with 11 points for her sixth double-double of the season -- tying for the most among any player in the SEC this season.Junior Meighan Simmons added 15 points.

Tennessee has responded with back-to-back efforts that have pleased head coach Holly Warlick and her staff after dropping consecutive games to No. 1 Stanford and No. 3 Baylor. Combined with the 75-40 win over Davidson last Friday, the Lady Vols have outscored opponents 141-87, a margin of 27 points per game.After holding a 20-point halftime lead, the Lady Vols continue to stand stout in the second half on both ends of the court.

Taber Spani's 3-pointer with 14:16 left in the game ballooned the lead to 26 at 44-18. The margin moved to 28 on a Simmons fastbreak jumper, 48-20. That was the largest lead of the game for the Lady Vols. The closest Rutgers got in the final 10 minutes was 18.Rutgers was led by Kahleah Cooper, who tallied 13 points before fouling out with 3:24 left in regulation. The Scarlet Knights were hampered by the loss of Monique Oliver, who suffered an ankle injury in the first half.

The 47 points were the second-fewest Rutgers has scored in the 22-game series between the teams that dates to 1979. The all-time low of 46 came in the 2007 National Championship game when UT beat Rutgers, 59-46.

Tennessee dominated on both ends throughout the first half building a 33-13 lead at halftime. The Lady Vols shot 45.2 from the floor and limited Rutgers to 22.2 as the Scarlet Knights didn't make a 3-pointer (0-of-6). UT also forced Rutgers into 14 turnovers as Harrison had four of the Lady Vols' eight steals.

It was sixth time the Lady Vols held an opponent to less than 25 percent from the floor in a half.

In allowing just 13 points, the Lady Vols had their best defensive effort in a first half this season. Twice last year UT limited foes to 13 points at intermission.

The Lady Vols opened the game scoring the first eight points as UT shutout the Scarlet Knights for nearly six minutes before Shakena Richardson knocked home a jumper.

Tennessee took control of the game early, building an 18-4 lead midway through the first half thanks to a parade of layups. The Lady Vols had 14 of their first 18 points in the paint.

The lead expanded to 17 at 25-8 on a Simmons 3-pointer with seven minutes left in the first half. Another Simmons trey pushed the lead to 33-13 with just over a minute left in the half.

Tennessee opens its SEC schedule on Thursday at #19/16 South Carolina in Columbia. That game airs on SportSouth and can be heard on the Lady Vol Network with a 9 p.m. tip-off.

The Lady Vols' final non-conference game of the season comes against #5 Notre Dame on Jan. 28 in Knoxville.

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